Cancer currently constitutes the second most common cause of death in the United States. Carcinomas of the pancreas are the eighth most prevalent form of cancer and fourth among the most common causes of cancer deaths in this country.
The prognosis for pancreatic carcinoma is, at present, very poor, it displays the lowest five-year survival rate among all cancers. Such prognosis results primarily from delayed diagnosis, due in part to the fact that the early symptoms are shared with other more common abdominal ailments. Despite the advances in diagnostic imaging methods like ultrasonography (US), endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), dualphase spiral computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRT), endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and transcutaneous or EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA), distinguishing pancreatic carcinoma from benign pancreatic diseases, especially chronic pancreatitis, is difficult because of the similarities in radiological and imaging features and the lack of specific clinical symptoms for pancreatic carcinoma.
Substantial efforts have been directed to developing tools useful for early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinomas. Nonetheless, a definitive diagnosis is often dependent on exploratory surgery which is inevitably performed after the disease has advanced past the point when early treatment may be effected.
One promising method for early diagnosis of various forms of cancer is the identification of specific biochemical moieties, termed targets, expressed differentially in the cancerous cells. The targets are either cell suface proteins or cytosolic proteins. Antibodies which will specifically recognize and bind to the targets in the cancerous cells potentially provide powerful tools for the diagnosis and treatment of the particular malignancy.